Internal National Park Service Memo Tells Staff Not to Talk About Its Record Visitation

In 2024, National Park Service (NPS) visitation reached a record high, with more than 331 million recreation visits. Never before in the agency’s 109-year history have more people visited its sites in a single year, showing the huge—and increasing—popularity of national parks.

In normal years, the National Park Service publishes its visitation statistics with great fanfare, complete with various graphics, charts, lists, and tables, as well as a statement from its director. There’s always a press release as well, including from individual park units. But this is not turning out to be a normal year at all.

Internal National Park Service Memo Tells Staff to Be Quiet About Record Visitation

An internal NPS memo, which was shared by a group of park rangers called “Resistance Rangers,” shows that the news about record visitation to national parks is being actively suppressed by the Park Service itself.

It is worth noting, however, that the order to suppress this information is given by the National Park Service’s superiors—the Department of the Interior or DOGE.

“There is no external communications rollout for 2024 visitation data,” the memo says, adding that parks “should not issue a press release or other proactive communications, including social media posts.”

See the NPS memo below:

This active suppression of information is in line with what has happened in the previous weeks.

The federal government terminated 1,000 probationary NPS employees, while another 700 people accepted a deferred resignations offer. In total, 9% of the entire NPS workforce was lost in a matter of weeks—and more layoffs may be on the way this month.

On top of that, the hiring process for thousands of seasonal workers was suspended, then reinstated, causing a massive delay in the training of workers who are essential to the operations of numerous parks.

Due to this massive loss of (often essential) employees, several NPS sites have had to close facilities and/or cancel ranger tours and programs.

And if that was not enough, the federal government also plans to end the leases of 34 NPS buildings all across the country. These buildings include visitor centers, museums, law enforcement offices, superintendent’s offices, and park headquarters.

How This May Impact Your National Park Visit

Depending on the individual park, these job cuts could have potentially serious consequences for your next national park visit.

The combination of increased visitation and a reduced NPS workforce may impact your national parks experience. Possible consequences may include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Closed facilities, such as campgrounds, museums, ranger stations, and visitor centers
• Longer traffic lines at park entrances
• Fewer ranger tours and programs
• Dirty restrooms
• Overflowing trash bins
• Stalled construction projects
• Unmaintained trails
• Delayed search-and-rescue response

What You Can Do To Help

If you care about our national parks, their dedicated employees, and the peril they both find themselves in at the moment, there are a few things you can do to help.

The first, and arguably most important, action you can take is letting Congress know how seriously this is affecting hard-working, genuine, passionate, and qualified Americans—on both sides of the political aisle.

You can conveniently do that by filling out this form on the National Parks Conservation Association website.

Additionally, you can also contact your Senator or Representative directly. The best way to do that is through the 5 Calls app.

Other ways to help is by donating to conservation associations like the abovementioned National Parks Conservation Association, the National Park Foundation, or the National Forest Foundation.

In a more practical way, when visiting national parks and forests, always make sure to follow the seven Leave No Trace Principles. This is more important than ever, considering that public lands may have fewer staff available. Keep yourself safe, keep the landscape clean, leave the wildlife alone, and look out for other visitors as well.

Are you or do you know a National Park Service employee who was recently terminated? Did you recently visit a park and did you notice major issues? Feel free to reach out to us if you’d like to share your story. Please contact us via our Facebook page.